C3-OX)  insr  GO-vEiaisr^ynEnsrT. 


SERMON 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


GOVERXMEXT  OF  MASSACHUSETTS, 


ANNUAL  ELECTION, 


Wednesday,  January  3,  1877. 


By  Rev.  B.  F.  Hamilton. 


BOSTON: 
ALBERT  J.  WRIGHT,  STATE  PRINTER, 
79  Milk  Street  (corner  of  Federal). 

1877. 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Arcliive 
in  2015 


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Senate,  January  29,  1877. 

Ordered,  That  ^  special  committee  of  three  be  appointed  to  present  the 
thanks  of  the  Senate  to  the  Rev.  B.  F.  Hamilton  for  the  able  and  appro- 
priate sermon  preached  before  the  legislative  and  executive  departments 
of  the  government  on  the  third  instant,  and  request  a  copy  of  the  same 
for  publication. 


Senate,  January  30,  1877. 

Adopted,  and  Messrs.  Moors  of  Franklin,  Brown  of  Essex,  and  Sher- 
man of  Middlesex  are  appointed  the  committee. 

S.  N.  GiFFORD,  Clerk. 


Senate  Chamber,  Boston,  February  1,  1877. 

Dear  Sir  : — By  a  vote  of  the  Senate,  passed  January  30,  the  under- 
signed were  appointed  a  committee  to  express  the  thanks  of  the  Senate 
to  you  for  the  able  and  appropriate  sermon  preached  before  the  executive 
and  legislative  departments  of  the  government  on  the  3d  of  January, 
and  to  request  a  copy  for  publication. 

The  above  vote  and  request  it  gives  us  pleasure  to  communicate. 

Your  obedient  servants, 

J.  F.  MOORS. 
L.  H.  SHERMAN. 
HAYDN  BROWN. 

Rev.  B.  F.  Hamilton. 


Boston  Highlant)S,  February  12,  1877. 

Dear  Sirs: — I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your 
favor  of  the  first  instant,  conveying  the  vote  of  thanks  passed  by  the 
Senate  for  the  sermon  preached  by  me  before  the  executive  and  legis- 
lative departments  of  the  state  governinent  on  January  3,  1877,  and  the 
request  for  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

In  response  to  the  favor  so  kindly  expressed,  I  herewith  forward  the 
desired  manuscript. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

B.  F.  HAMILTON. 

To  Hon.  J.  F.  Moors,  L.  H.  Sherman,  Haydn  Brown, 

Committee  of  Senate. 


SERMON 


Let  evert  soul  be  subject  unto  the  higher  powers.  For  there  is 
NO  power  but  of  God:  the  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God.  .  .  . 
They  are  God's  ministers.   .   .   .   Rom.  xiii.  1  and  6. 

True  loyalty  implies  service.  Man,  be  he 
peasant,  prince,  or  king,  must  have  a  master. 
However  great  his  powers,  there  are  others 
greater;  however  high  his  authority,  it  is  never 
the  highest.  Like  the  stars,  he  rules  best  by 
obeying;  like  the  moon,  he  must  yield  his  glory 
to  another,  though  a  sea  of  applauding  humanity 
follow  in  his  wake. 

To  whom,  then,  belongs  this  meed  of  highest 
honor?  Whence  comes  the  primal  right  of  any 
to  rule?  Where  rests  the  ultimate  will  for  all  to 
heed?  These  are  queries  as  old  as  history,  as 
intricate  as  society,  as  vital  as  government  itself; 
to  the  solving  of  which  reason  has  loaned  its 
bright  intuitions,  experience  has  set  its  lamp  of 
reflection,  war  has  waged  its  sharp  arbitrament. 
And  yet  the  answers  given  have  been  as  varied  as 


8 


God  in  Government. 


the  ends  sought  or  the  means  employed  to  reach 
them. 

According  to  one  theorist,  imver  gives  the  seal 
to  all  authority;  another  affirms  that  wealth,  wis- 
dom, or  executive  tact  hrings  the  right  to  rule ; 
another  believes  in  the  "  divine  right "  of  kings, 
and  knows  no  stable  throne  outside  the  royal  line  ; 
while  another  still  centres  absolute  sovereignty  in 
the  social  compact,  and  prays  that  a  "government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people," 
may  not  perish  from  the  earth. 

This  last  theory,  born  of  reason,  and  bred  in  the 
school  of  patriotism, — the  bane  of  dynasties  and 
the  pest  of  tyrants,  but  the  glory  of  republics  and 
the  pet  of  freemen, — so  dear  to  every  American 
heart,  and  so  fraught  with  blessings  for  this 
goodly  land,  is,  nevertheless,  liable  to  perversion, 
and  needs  the  check  of  wise  conditions. 

In  our  strong  revulsion  from  hereditary  rule  and 
arbitrary  power,  with  an  intense  hate  of  every- 
thing that  binds  conscience  or  limits  constitutional 
rights,  with  an  inborn  love  of  civil  liberty  and 
social  equality,  there  is  danger  of  overestimating 
the  power  of  the  popular  will,  and  of  robbing  God 
that  man  may  rule. 

As  a  check  to  this  tendency,  and  in  explanation 


God  in  Government, 


9 


of  the  true  relations  between  divine  and  human 
authority,  the  passage  of  Scripture  of  which  our 
text  is  a  part  has  great  significance.  In  this 
inspired  "Magna  Charta "  the  rights  of  the 
citizen,  the  State,  and  the  great  Sovereign  are 
fully  guaranteed  through  a  harmonious  adjustment 
of  the  less  to  the  greater,  and  of  all  to  the 
greatest.  Civil  law  is  here  honored  by  divine 
sanctions;  obedience  is  made  a  matter  of  con- 
science; tribute  is  put  down  as  a  test  of  loyalty; 
penalties  are  applied  on  the  principle  of  benevo- 
lence; right  government  is  ranked  as  a  religious 
duty;  those  that  legislate,  and  those  that  execute, 
are  ordained  alike  as  with  the  laying  on  of 
apostolic  hands,  the  ministers  of  Him  who  rules 
supreme. 

Being  permitted  to  address  those  thus  highly 
commissioned,  I  can  think  of  no  more  fitting  theme 
for  discussion  in  this  grave  presence  than  Qod  in 
Government^  or  the  Tlieocratic  Element  in  the 
Social  Compact. 

I.  As  a  premise  to  the  conclusions  that  may 
follow,  we  shall  need  to  consider :  first,  the  abso- 
lute supremacy  of  the  Most  High,  and  his  inherent 
right  to  regulate  all  government. 

Jehovah  has  never  yet  abdicated  his  throne  in 

2  ■  ■ 


/ 


10  God  in  Government. 

favor  of  any  royal  line,  or  bound  his  will  by  the 
vote  of  a  majority.  Deity  cannot  give  his  pre- 
rogatives to  humanity.  The  finite  must  be  limited 
by  the  Infinite ;  the  created,  by  the  Creator. 
model  outranks  its  maker;  no  shadow  is  independ- 
ent of  the  light;  no  system  has  an  organic  unity 
distinct  from  ultimate  principles;  no  forms  of  life 
determine  their  own  functions,  or  set  bounds  to 
their  own  existence.  This  has  been  done  for  them 
by  Him  who  is  the  life,  on  a  plan  devised  before 
the  foundations  of  the  world  were  laid. 

If,  then,  man  has  liberty,  it  must  be  in  law;  if 
he  has  authority,  it  is  delegated,  not  developed;  if 
he  rules,  it  is  as  by  sufferance,  and  that  not  of  his 
subjects  beneath  simply,  but  also  of  his  Sovereign 
above. 

From  this  germinal  truth  all  good  governments 
spring.  Man  rules  liimself  best  when  he  heeds 
the  restraints  of  the  higher  law.  His  free  agency, 
although  involving  a  choice  between  right  and 
wrong,  is  yet  conditioned  by  moral  motives,  which 
make  it  imperative  that  he  do  the  right.  Con- 
science will  give  him  no  peace  until  he  obeys  her 
mandates.  That  inner  sense  of  duty  which  the 
elder  Adams  called  "  the  minister  plenipotentiary 
of  God  Almighty  in  the  breast,"  may  not  be 


God  in  Government. 


11 


slighted,  save  at  the  cost  of  anarchy  in  the  heart. 
"When  our  first  parents  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  that 
authoritative  voice,  it  was  only  to  hear  the  din 
of  discordant  emotions,  and  feel  the  friction  of 
opposing  motives.  No  more  placid  repose  in 
conscious  worthiness  for  them;  no  more  compla- 
cent meditations  unmarred  by  sharp  compunctions; 
no  more  free  activity,  save  in  the  tether  of  chafing 
restraints.  Primeval  blessedness  was  bartered 
when  righteous  law  was  broken.  Paradise  became 
a  pandemonium  at  the  loss  of  moral  rectitude. 

Yet  the  point  to  be  emphasized  here,  is  the  fact 
that  the  first  transgression  was  a  social  sin  against 
a  system  divinely  arranged.  There  was  collusion 
in  guilt  between  the  unhappy  pair.  Society,  as 
well  as  the  individual,  suffered  by  the  revolt  in 
Eden.  God's  government,  as  well  as  man's  moral 
nature,  was  involved  in  that  lapse  from  loyalty. 
He  framed  the  constitution  of  the  garden  Com- 
monwealth. He  adjusted  the  legal  relations 
between  the  two  citizens  and  himself.  He  put  the 
permissions,  the  prohibitions,  and  the  penalties  in 
the  first  unwritten  statutes.  He  devised  the  mari- 
tal laws,  the  secular  industries,  and  the  civil 
service  of  the  primeval  state. 

So  when  families  were  multiplied  on  the  earth, 


12 


God  in  Government, 


and  the  patriarchal  system  became  the  generally 
accepted  government  of  the  race,  the  old  Hebrew 
sheik  still  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  heavenly  King. 
His  word  was  law  throughout  the  tribe,  for  it  was 
thought  to  be  the  echo  of  the  omnipotent  voice. 
Abraham  was  chosen  the  father  of  the  faithful 
because  it  was  known  that  he  would  order  his 
children  and  his  household  after  him  in  the  way 
of  the  Lord. 

Moses  was  a  representative  of  Jehovah,  as  well 
as  of  Israel,  when  the  Sinaitic  code  was  adopted. 
The  judges,  too,  were  revered  as  sacred  persons, 
because  they  "  inquired  of  the  Lord "  before  they 
gave  their  decisions,  or  attempted  to  execute  judg- 
ment and  justice  for  the  people. 

Samson's  strength,  Gideon's  courage,  Samuel's 
wisdom,  were  confessedly  dependent  upon  other 
than  human  inspiration  for  their  more  fervid 
moods. 

Nor  was  the  royal  sceptre  taken  up  save  by 
divine  permission.  Though  Israel's  petulant  de- 
mands for  a  temporal  king  betrayed  a  lack  of  faith 
in  the  theocracy,  and  were  treated  as  a  grave 
breach  of  covenant  obligations,  yet  Jehovah,  in 
yielding  to  the  wish  of  his  fickle  subjects,  still 
retained  the  right  to  designate  their  future  sover- 


God  in  Government. 


13 


eign,  to  induct  him  into  office  by  the  hand  of  his 
chosen  servant,  and  to  shape  tlie  very  framework 
of  the  new  government.  Thus  we  read  that  when 
the  son  of  Kish  was  anointed  king  at  Mizpeh, 
Samuel,  not  Saul,  "told  the  people  the  manner  of 
the  kingdom,  and  wrote  it  in  a  book  and  laid  it  up 
before  the  Lord,"  as  if  in  formal  acknowledgment 
of  the  fact  that  law  and  sovereignty  alike  lose 
their  sacredness  when  dissevered  from  the  Holy  of 
holies.  Hence  the  ark  of  the  covenant  was  always 
taken  as  a  symbol  of  Israel's  nationality.  The 
tables  of  stone,  and  the  rod  that  budded,  were 
placed  side  by  side  as  visible  tokens  of  an  invisible 
word  and  power  working  together  for  the  public 
weal.  Prophets  were  associate  with  kings  to 
check  their  excesses  and  keep  them  in  mind  of 
their  dependence  upon  Heaven  for  success. 

And  this  theocratic  idea  is  operative,  to  some 
extent  at  least,  in  all  good  government  to-day;  not 
in  form,  but  in  fact;  not  as  a  recorded  statute  or 
representative  functionary,  perhaps,  but  as  a  per- 
meating influence  and  a  moulding  principle.  The 
rod  which  budded  is  lost,  and  the  prophet's  voice 
is  silent,  but  the  word  and  power  which  they 
symbolized  are  absolute  still.  This  the  great 
Edmund  Burke  admitted  in  his  logical  argument 


14 


God  ill  Government, 


against  arbitrary  human  rule,  when  he  exclaimed, 
"]S'o  man  can  lawfully  govern  AmseZ/*  according 
to  his  own  will;  much  less  can  one  person  be 
governed  by  the  will  of  another  without  enmity 
towards  God!  " 

This  was  once  preached  to  the  House  of  Lords 
by  Bishop  Butler,  in  the  expressive  phrase, 
"Reverence  and  submission  will,  at  best,  be  very 
precarious  if  they  be  not  founded  upon  a  sense  of 
authority,  being  God's  ordinance;  and  the  subor- 
dinations of  life  a  2^^ovide7itial  appointment  of 
things."  And  the  same  thing  is  virtually  con- 
ceded by  the  present  head  of  that  government  as 
often  as  she  subscribes  herself  "Victoria,  by  the 
grace  of  God,  Queen  of  Great  Britain";  or  stamps 
her  coined  wealth  with  the  Deo  gratlas;  or  sits 
upon  her  throne  carved  with  the  motto,  "  Deus, 
major  columna^''  (God,  the  strongest  pillar). 

ISTor  did  our  fathers  leave  the  theocratic  idea 
behind  them  when  they  crossed  the  sea  to  found 
this  free  Commonwealth.  They  turned  their  backs 
upon  musty  traditions  and  forced  ceremonials  and 
arbitrary  dogmas,  but  gave  their  hearts  to  the 
eternal  doctrines,  the  abounding  grace,  and  the 
blessed  liberty  with  which  Christ  makes  men  free. 
Instead  of  burying  their  faith  in  the  cerements  of 


God  in  Government, 


15 


dead  forms,  they  brought  it  to  life  in  the  various 
activities  of  the  body  politic.  Instead  of  uniting 
church  and  state  in  law,  they  were  made  one  only 
in  spirit,  each  being  subject  to  the  other  just  so  far 
as  both  are  obedient  to  God.  Hence  that  social 
compact,  solemnized  by  prayer  "  in  the  presence  of 
God,"  on  board  the  Mayflower;  hence  that  con- 
vention of  pious  planters  at  ISTew  Haven,  in  1639, 
"  for  the  establishment  of  such  civil  order  as  might 
be  most  pleasing  unto  God";  hence  those  early 
instructions  of  the  Legislature  to  its  committee 
appointed  to  frame  laws  for  this  Commonwealth, 
"  Let  them  be  as  near  the  law  of  God  as  iiossible  "y 
hence  that  decision  of  the  supreme  court,  that 
Christianity  "  was  recognized  by  the  people  as  a 
fundamental  and  essential  part  of  the  Constitu- 
tion " ;  hence  these  sacred  institutions  protected  by 
law,  these  solemn  oaths  taken  at  the  door  of 
official  station,  these  commissioned  chaplains  in 
civil  and  military  service,  this  union  in  worship  by 
the  representatives  of  the  State  in  keeping  of  a 
long-established  custom. 

Aye,  the  common  law  of  the  land  requires  a 
devout  recognition  of  Deity.  Revered  precedent 
ranks  religious  faith  among  the  cardinal  virtues. 
Even  secular  history  reserves  for  her  brightest 


IG 


God  in  Government, 


pages  the  pious  acts  of  her  great  men:  "Washmg- 
ton  on  his  knees  at  Yaliey  Forge;  General  Hans 
Yon  Zieten  decHning  to  dine  with  Frederick  the 
Great  that  he  might  sit  at  the  table  of  the  Lord, 
and,  afterwards,  when  rallied  therefor,  rebuking 
that  infidel  sovereign  for  his  profanity  with  the 
brave  words,  "If  you  undermine  the  Christian 
faith,  you  undermine  at  the  same  time  the  welfare 
of  the  state  " ;  William,  Prince  of  Orange,  quelling 
the  fears  of  his  followers,  because  no  foreign 
power  had  espoused  his  cause,  with  the  assuring 
remark,  "/  have  made  a  close  alliance  with,  the 
King  of  Idngs^'^ ;  Solomon,  stepping  down  from 
his  gilded  throne,  and  laying  aside  his  bejewelled 
crown,  to  ask  for  that  wisdom  by  which  kings 
reign  and  princes  decree  justice; — such,  I  say, 
are  the  royal  acts  which  bear  the  palm  in  the 
records  of  the  past,  and  prove  their  authors 
worthy  to  rule. 

11.  It  being  admitted,  then,  that  human  author- 
ity is  subject  to  the  divine  will,  it  follows,  logically, 
that  civil  legislation  should  be  made  to  match 
God's  law.  Everything  good  in  this  world  is 
fashioned  after  a  divine  model.  Wisdom,  order, 
justice,  benevolence,  if  genuine,  are  but  finite 


God  in  Government, 


17 


features  of  the  Infinite  Spirit.  True  science,  and 
all  correct  systems  of  philosophy,  may  be  reduced 
to  ultimate  rules  that  are  eternal :  mathematics  to 
axioms,  ethics  to  principles,  social  science  to 
inalienable  rights.  Liberty  lay  hid  in  law,  like  the 
rainbow  in  light,  or  the  telegraph  in  electricity, 
long  ages  before  Plato  theorized,  or  Leonidas 
fought,  or  Lycurgus  legislated.  Man  does  not 
create  government;  ^im^\j  constructs  it.  He  can- 
not make  rights ;  only  discover,  apply,  and  protect 
them.  The  legislator,  as  well  as  the  scientist  and 
theologian,  is  in  search  of  rules  written  by  the 
finger  of  God,  and  must,  like  them,  at  times  go 
back  of  traditions  and  precedents  and  popular 
preferences,  to  read  the  law  as  engrossed  in  the 
constitution  of  things,  or  brought  to  light  on  the 
sacred  page. 

One  of  the  earliest  recorded  discussions  of  our 
colonial  fathers  was  on  the  question,  "Whether  the 
Scriptures  do  hold  forth  a  perfect  rule  for  the 
direction  and  government  of  all  men  in  all  duties 
or  not."  How  that  question  was  decided  may  be 
inferred  from  the  fact  that,  later,  the  Legislature 
of  this  State  appointed  a  committee  to  frame  laws 
for  the  Commonwealth,  with  the  instruction,  "  Let 
them  be  as  near  the  law  of  God  as  possible." 

3 


18 


God  in  Government, 


Can  a  state  thus  founded  safely  change  its  base 
while  the  superstructure  is  being  reared?  "Will  a 
statute-book  thus  begun  seem  genuine,  if  its  later 
editions  be  but  dim  types  of  the  original?  Ought 
not  each  act  and  resolve  and  legal  restraint  to  be 
as  really  the  outcome  of  the  same  primal  truth,  as 
tendrils  are  the  growth  of  the  vine,  or  silken 
threads  the  product  of  the  living  chrysalis? 

There  is  a  development  theory  true  alike  of  law 
and  life,  whose  bioplasm  is  the  breath  of  God,  and 
whose  testing  lens  is  the  revealed  Word.  The 
same  power  that  gave  free  agency  to  the  indi- 
vidual, and  sovereignty  to  the  state,  has  placed 
the  Bible  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  "  that  they 
may  learn  how  to  wear  the  crown."  America's 
"princes,"  like  Israel's  poet-king,  will  walk  at 
liberty  only  as  they  seek  God's  precepts.  To  turn 
from  these  in  private  life;  to  bar  them  out  from 
the  public  schools;  to  belie  their  authority  in 
official  acts  or  legislative  resolves, — is  to  ape  the 
folly  of  that  national  convention  which  decreed 
the  Sabbath  void  and  the  Bible  a  lie,  only  to 
hasten  the  horrors  of  the  French  Kevolution. 
Wise  statesmanship,  like  good  seamanship,  never 
slights  the  celestial  chart. 

It  is  said  that  the  springs  about  Naples  are  wont 


God  in  Government, 


19 


to  rise  to  a  higher  level  in  their  cisterns  so  often 
as  Vesuvius  threatens  an  eruption.  Analogy  sug- 
gests that  this  fountain  of  truth,  if  allowed  to  well 
up  in  the  popular  heart  and  estimation,  would  both 
warn  against  and  drown  out  those  pent-up  pas- 
sions which  threaten  the  nation's  safety. 

III.  And  this,  again,  reminds  us  that  divine 
motives,  as  well  as  divine  methods,  should  charac- 
terize human  legislation.  Among  those  which 
might  be  mentioned  is  henevolence,  at  the  head  of 
the  list.  That  regal  virtue,  which  dominates  the 
counsels,  the  orders,  and  the  acts  of  the  heavenly 
Sovereign,  may  well  occupy  a  ruling  place  in  the 
deliberations  of  this  "great  and  general  court.'' 
"  The  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  number,"  is  a 
fitting  motto  for  all  in  authority  to  adopt.  Gov- 
ernment is  designed  for  the  public  weal,  and  not 
for  personal  emolument  or  party  ends.  Official 
station,  instead  of  being  the  "head  centre"  for 
plotting  ambition  or  political  rings,  is  the  nation's 
watch-tower,  whence  should  sound  forth  to  the  ear 
of  a  listening  people  the  frequent  assurance,  "  all 
is  well."  Those  thus  highly  exalted,  if,  indeed, 
made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  may  yet  vie 
with  them  in  heralding  "  peace  on  earth,  good- will 


20 


God  in  Government. 


toward  men."  Both  are  ministers  of  God,  and  the 
honored  mission  of  each  is  to  help  restore  lost 
harmony  to  our  contending  race.  Hmnan  society, 
hke  the  vaulted  canopy,  is  full  of  discordant 
elements  and  perturbing  forces,  which  need  the 
gravity  of  law  to  hold  them  in  check ;  and  he  who 
unfolds  a  practical  system  of  rules  by  which  the 
multitudes  may  be  controlled,  is  a  greater  bene- 
factor to  the  race  than  the  writer  of  the  Principia. 

It  is  a  gracious  work  to  govern  well ;  an  act  of 
mercy  to  keep  the  vicious  in  check.  Some  men 
are  like  horses,  safe  only  when  held  in  by  the 
curb-bit  of  legal  restraint.  Society  has  its  ups 
and  downs  like  rugged  scenery,  with  low  streams 
to  be  bridged  over  and  highways  to  be  walled  in, 
that  the  incautious  traveller  may  not  come  to  grief. 
"Without  this  civil  engineering  and  legal  macadam- 
izing, every  moral  thoroughfare  will  be  bisected 
with  those  troublesome  "  private  ways  "  which  bear 
the  ugly  signal,  "Dangerous  passing."  It  is  as 
much  an  act  of  benevolence  to  fence  out  vice,  as 
to  farm  virtue;  to  hold  back  the  froward,  as  to 
hurry  forward  the  faithful.  True  philanthropy,  no 
less  than  sound  theology,  sanctions  wholesome 
restraints  and  wise  penalties.  The  civil  code,  like 
the  moral  law,  may  and  ought  to  embody  the  spirit 


God  in  Government. 


21 


of  love.  Let  this  silken  thread,  then,  run  through 
the  leaves  of  the  statute-book;  this  holy  oil  lubri- 
cate the  wheels  of  government.  Let  "justice  be 
tempered  with  mercy,"  and  force  be  balanced  by 
compassion.  Let  the  law  which  checks  license 
foster  liberty,  and  the  hand  that  locks  up  the 
prisoner  open  some  door  of  hope  to  the  discharged 
convict. 

It  is  well  for  the  vicious  to  know  that  law  is 
executed  in  the  interest  of  virtue,  and  not  for  •  the 
sake  of  vengeance ;  that  immorality  is  both  a 
private  and  a  public  bane ;  that  ignorance  is  dis- 
couraged by  the  State  alike  for  its  own  safety  and 
for  the  well-being  of  its  subjects ;  that  neither 
bigotry  nor  infidelity  will  be  allowed  to  blight  our 
Tree  schools,  to  undermine  our  holy  Sabbaths,  or  to 
bar  the  doors  of  our  Christian  sanctuaries,  since 
upon  these  cherished  institutions  the  Common- 
wealth itself  is  builded  ;  and  "  if  the  foundations 
be  destroyed,  what  can  the  righteous  do?" 

2.  Moreover,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  wise 
legislation  is  closely  wedded  to  equity  and  justice. 
Government,  like  grace,  should  aim  to  clothe  all 
its  subjects  with  the  garments  of  righteousness. 
Law,  like  cohesion,  will  occasion  least  friction  and 
closest  union  when  it  touches  each  member  of  the 


22 


God  in  Government, 


body  politic  with  well-adjusted  pressure.  In  a 
land  like  this,  where  the  ends  of  the  earth  meet 
together,  all  tribes,  all  tongues,  and  all  tastes  com- 
mingling; the  Celt  seeking  fellowship  with  the 
Gaul ;  the  sons  of  Ham  claiming  fraternity  with 
the  children  of  J apheth ;  ancient  Egypt  and 
modern  Europe  owning  allegiance  to  Young 
America, — the  land  of  convocation,  not  of  dis- 
persion,— here  a  common  polity,  as  well  as  a 
common  language,  is  needed  to  prevent  a  Babel 
confusion.  A  democracy,  not  less  than  a  the- 
ocracy, demands  that  the  balances  of  justice  be 
delicately  poised;  that  the  rule  of  right  be  accu- 
rately marked.  Any  attempts  to  shade  it  down 
to  the  color  line ;  to  give  it  a  sectional  bias  or 
a  social  distinction;  to  make  it  rigid  or  elastic,' 
crooked  or  straight,  according  as  the  subjects 
tested  are  high  or  low,  rich  or  poor,  weak  or 
strong, — tend  to  warp  the  very  framework  of  our 
government,  and  give  the  tower  of  our  national 
strength  a  Pisa  tip.  Trickery  in  politics  is  treach- 
ery towards  patriotism.  Dishonesty  is  disloyalty. 
Illegal  voting  is  public  vandalism.  The  people 
who  allow  the  sacred  right  of  suffrage  to  be 
tampered  with  unchallenged, — cliques  to  control 
caucuses,  money  to  buy  place,  lobbies  to  dictate 


God  in  Government* 


23 


legislation,  murderers  to  make  majorities, — will, 
one  day,  want  a  Cavaignac  to  sweep  their  mob- 
thronged  streets  with  cannon,  or  a  Bismarck  to 
crush  out  their  corrupt  rings  with  his  iron  grasp. 
Providence  has  compassion  upon  those  who  strug- 
gle against  wrong,  but  a  rod  for  such  as  loink  at 
sin.  He  cares  little  which  party  comes  to  power, 
so  they  really  mean  "  reform  " ;  or  what  candidate 
gains  the  electoral  vote,  so  he  has  clean  hands  and 
a  pure  heart;  but  woe  to  the  man  or  to  the  party 
that  attains  honor  through  fraud,  or  place  by  force. 
"Justice,  justice!  woe  betide  us  everywhere  when 
for  this  reason,  or  for  that,  we  fail  to  do  justice! 
ifo  beneficence,  benevolence,  or  other  virtuous 
contribution  will  make  good  the  want.  In  the 
name  of  Heaven,  give  us  justice,  and  we  live;  give 
us  only  counterfeits  of  it,  or  succedanea  for  it,  and 
we  die."  So  cries  England's  keenest  critic,  and  so 
responds  America's  truest  patriots,  with  a  loud 
Amen. 

3.  Finally,  that  government  is  most  benign  and 
just  which  aims  to  elevate  and  instruct  its  subjects. 
The  state,  hardly  less  than  the  family,  the  school, 
or  the  church,  is  a  public  educator;  and  that,  not 
through  its  institutions  alone,  but  by  its  acts, 
resolves,  and  avowed  policy  as  well. 


24 


God  in  Government, 


It  is  to  be  expected  that  a  good  government  will 
foster  pure  literature  and  sound  learning;  but  it  is 
sometimes  forgotten  that  the  legislative  hall  is  a 
kind  of  public  school-room;  that  the  General  Stat- 
utes are  a  moral  text-book  for  the  people  to  study; 
and  the  character  of  their  representatives,  "living 
epistles,  known  and  read  of  all  men."  Some  men 
know  little  of  virtue,  save  as  they  see  it  illustrated 
by  their  superiors.  Their  consciences  are  aroused 
only  by  the  "shalls"  and  the  "shall  nots"  of 
the  law.  They  are  ambitious  of  little  else  than 
to  escape  the  penalties  of  transgression.  Spartan 
youth  could  commit  theft  without  compunctions, 
for  the  laws  which  they  were  obliged  to  study 
rewarded  cunning.  It  was  not  strange  that  the 
subjects  of  Charles  the  Second  offered  virtue  and 
justice  for  sale,  when  their  sovereign,  insensible 
alike  to  honor  and  shame,  was  the  highest  bidder. 
The  voluptuousness  of  the  court  of  Louis  XY. 
was  the  natural  source  of  that  infidelity  and  com- 
munism whose  turbid  streams  so  poisoned  the 
social  life  of  France  a  century  ago.  "Tell  me 
what  kind  of  man  governs  a  people,"  says  Carlyle, 
"and  you  tell  me  with  much  exactness  what  the 
net  sum-total  of  social  worth  in  that  people  has 
for  some  time  been." 


God  in  Government. 


25 


Moral,  like  atmospheric,  currents,  are  deter- 
mined in  high  places.  Subjects  submit  themselves 
in  more  ways  than  one  to  their  rulers.  Their 
judgment,  their  conscience,  and  their  social  life  are 
often  shaped  by  the  habits  of  their  chosen  repre- 
sentatives. A  few  men  set  the  fashions,  make  the 
laws,  turn  the  currents  of  popular  thought  and 
feeling  for  each  generation  to  follow.  How  im- 
portant, then,  that  these  leaders  of  the  people 
follow  the  right ;  that  the  beacon-lights  shine 
forth;  that  the  sceptre  of  power  point  towards 
the  star  of  truth! 

Many  weak  and  unfortunate  souls  need  the  aid 
of  authority  to  keep  them  from  despondency. 
Seventy-seven  thousand  illiterate  adults  are  to-day 
invoking  the  wisdom  of  this  State  to  enlighten 
them  in  their  ignorance.  Four  thousand  three 
hundred  and  forty  convicts  seek  the  mercy  of  the 
State  while  justice  is  being  meted  out  to  them. 
Ten  thousand  helpless  inebriates  are  praying  for 
the  power  of  the  State  to  defend  them  from  their 
heartless  tempters.  An  untold  number  of  indi- 
gent, aimless,  incompetent  persons  are  waiting  for 
the  benevolent  hand  of  the  State  to  save  them 
from  vicious  habits,  by  helping  them  to  honest 
employment.    Industrial  schools  are  better  than 

4 


26 


God  in  Government, 


penitentiaries;  state  farms  are  cheaper  than  state 
prisons.  The  civil,  like  the  moral,  law,  may  be  a 
schoolmaster,  to  lead  men,  if  not  to  Christ,  yet  to 
higher  aims  and  more  useful  lives. 

Ministers  in  the  temple  of  justice,  hardly  less 
than  ministers  at  the  altar  of  religion,  have  a  part 
in  every  great  reform,  and  the  authority  of  the 
former  will  give  emphasis  to  the  preaching  of  the 
latter.  We  of  the  pulpit  welcome  you  of  the 
bench,  the  bar,  and  the  legislative  hall  as  co-labor- 
ers in  the  high  calling  of  promoting  the  public 
weal,  and  gladly  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship in  token  of  brotherhood  in  service. 

There  needs  to  be  a  closer  union  and  a  more 
active  sympathy  on  the  part  of  all  who  aim  to 
promote  the  general  good. 

The  co-operative  industries  have  had  a  grand 
triumph  in  the  success  of  the  centennial  exhibition 
just  closed.  A  combination  of  loyal  arms  crushed 
out  treason  from  our  national  domain,  and  con- 
quered, we  trust,  a  permanent  peace.  Would  not 
a  like  union  of  all  moral  forces  ensure  an  equally 
glorious  victory  over  the  powers  of  evil?  "Will 
not  the  fruits  of  virtue  and  the  ornaments  of  grace 
abound  more  richly  in  this  fair  land  when  the  well- 
meaning,  in  every  department  of  service,  enter  into 


God  in  Government,  27 

righteous  competition  to  exhibit  the  beautiful,  the 
true,  and  the  good  in  cliaracter  everywhere? 

The  sweet  poet's  song  is  also  the  true  patriot's 
prayer: — 

"  For  art  and  labor  met  in  truce, 
For  beauty  made  the  bride  of  use, 
We  thank  thee ;  but,  withal,  we  crave 
The  austere  virtues  strong  to  save, 
The  honor  proof  to  place  or  gold. 
The  manhood  never  bought  nor  sold. 

"  Oh  make  thou  us,  through  centuries  long. 
In  peace  secure,  injustice  strong; 
Around  our  gift  of  freedom  draw 
The  safeguards  of  thy  righteous  law ; 
And,  cast  in  some  diviner  mould, 
Let  the  new  cycle  shame  the  old." 

This  plea  for  the  noblest  motives  in  government 
will,  I  am  sure,  be  received  in  the  spirit  of  kindly 
consideration  by  His  Excellency  the  Governor, 
whose  public  proclamations  and  official  bearing 
well  illustrate  the  meaning  of  much  that  has  been 
said.  Massachusetts  is  to  be  congratulated  that 
the  noble  line  of  her  Chief  Magistracy  is  being 
perpetuated,  and  that  the  chair  once  occupied  by 
men  like  Adams  and  Briggs  and  Andrew  is 
graced  so  well  to-day. 

"Ask  well  who  is  your  chief  governor,"  says 
one,  "  for  around  him  men  like  to  him  will  infalli- 


28  '  God  in  Government. 


bly  gather."  This  prophecy  will  be  verified,  I 
doubt  not,  in  the  history  of  the  Legislature  now 
convened.  To  His  Honor,  the  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor, to  the  honorable  Council,  Senate,  and 
House  of  Representatives,  I  offer  the  respectful 
salutations  of  the  place  and  the  hour,  with  the 
prayer  that  the  Spirit  of  all  grace  will  guide  them 
in  their  deliberations,  and  lead  them  to  that  wis- 
dom and  knowledge  which  are  the  stability  of  our 
times. 


